UB students test computing skills in 24-hour “hackathon”

Up to 110 University at Buffalo students are expected to test their computer-programming and code-writing skills in a 24-hour “hackathon” that begins Saturday afternoon on the school’s North Campus.

The computer science and engineering students will seek solutions to common problems by, for example, developing a website that helps people better get around campus or by creating a program to automatically control lamps, blinds and other household items – both projects completed during last year’s event.

The 2014 hackathon, which begins at 2 p.m. Saturday in Davis Hall and concludes at 2 p.m. Sunday, is the third-annual event of its kind hosted by UB. The name relies on the original definition of “hacking,” to write a computer program or code, and not to describe using computer skills to break into someone’s website for thrills or financial gain.

The hackathon is sponsored by the UB chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery.